Arcadia's Hill
by Scully22
Summary: Chapter 4 up... my take on arcadia hills episode, with the help of other women Scully must try and save Mulder... MSR.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Scully explained what her new neighbor had told her, to Mulder. He didn't seem to be paying any attention to her, and she stopped when he threw his jacket off, and it went flying by her.

"Mulder are you listening to me?" Scully asked but got no response. He moved over to one side of the bed and began undressing. Scully nodded impatiently and turned her back to him. She continued to talk, facing the wall, while he left the room and came back in again. When she figured he had had enough time to dress she turned back around. Slowly she started to stop her rambling and she smiled. Mulder had put candles on the two side tables, and patted the spot next to him, in the bed, inviting her over.

Scully smiled as she looked away, "You're full of it Mulder!" she smiled wider. As she gathered her night clothes Mulder smirked, thinking of a good come back, "Oh but Scully, I'm still so hungry for you." She gave him one of her skeptic-silly looks before she walked off to the bathroom to change. When she came back Mulder had turned down the lights, but the candles lit the room exceedingly. She climbed into bed next to him, hesitantly.

"Night Mulder," Scully said. Mulder didn't respond at first and she thought he was asleep but finally a "night," came out from him.

Scully turned to her side, facing her back to Mulder, when she was startled, "Mulder get your cold feet off of me!"

"Awe but I'm cold!" he slid closer to her.

"Mulder!" Scully exclaimed.

"What?" he whined. She flipped back over to face him and he was smiling like a kid. "What?" Scully smiled back. Mulder shrugged, "You kind of look cute in your little night gown."

"Mulder just because I forgot my night clothes doesn't mean I look 'cute' in one of your ugly plaid shirts!" Mulder thought for a second, "Yes it does."

"Goodnight, Mulder" Scully repeated, but before she could turn back over Mulder draped his arm over her stomach. She looked at him in surprise, "What now?"

"I'm cold!" he exclaimed. After a second of thought, and debate, she flipped on to her side, her back to him again, "Come on."

Mulder slid closer to her and wrapped his arm over and around her again. He let out a deep sigh- happy he was getting warmed up. After a bit he spoke up, Scully was still awake too.

"Scully… are you scared?" she frowned before she flipped onto her back to face him better, and he kept his arm over her stomach.

"Scared of what? This town? This town's old folk tale that's become way out of hand? Mulder, I'm not afraid because it doesn't exist, this 'monster' is just everyone's vivid imagination."

"What if it _is_ real?" Mulder asked as he played with one of the buttons on her shirt. She peered down at his thumb fiddling with the button over her stomach. It tickled some what and a few times he undid the button then buttoned it back up again.

"Mulder even if it really is real, which it isn't, I still wouldn't be afraid of it. You can't be afraid of something that you don't believe is real." Mulder nodded, "yeah."

Scully stayed on her back. She watched him as he still played with the same button. It brought a sense of relaxation for some reason. Every so often his fingers would slip from the button and he'd poke her, although never real hard, but enough to send a line of electricity through her body. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something, but she couldn't tell what.

Finally Mulder spoke again, "It's ok to be afraid Scully, even if it is something you don't believe in," he took his fingers from her stomach and buttons, flipped onto his side, his back to her, and rested his eyes. Scully looked over at him for a second, frowning. He had her thinking now. Finally her teeth let go of her bottom lip, she turned her back to him, and then fell asleep.

**TBC**  



	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 **

Mulder was up before Scully the next morning, and downstairs already. He carried a plastic pink flamingo, which he found in one of the boxes, and put it smack in the middle of the front yard. He went back inside and sat in a chair right inside the front door. He watched through the glass in the door, to see who would fix it. He waited awhile but no one came, until finally he heard Scully in the kitchen. She looked tired and she sat down at the kitchen table. Mulder couldn't figure out what she was doing, and grew curious, "You waiting for something?"

Scully rubbed her eyes then smiled, "Well, someone has to make my breakfast." Mulder began to smile now, "Oh, I see. But, honey, that's your job."

Scully shook her head, "Oh no, Rob. My mother made breakfast for my father every morning for thirty years, no way am I continuing that tradition!" Scully smirked as she went back to reading the paper. Mulder couldn't help but smile at her, and his smile especially widened when he caught her looking up at him from the paper.

"Fine…" he muttered some words then started making breakfast for his sweet Laura.

After a half hour he placed a plate in front of her. Scully was impressed, there were eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, for a minute she thought he just went out and bought it.

"Wow Mulder, looks great!..." She inhaled a large breath of the breakfast and he could tell she was going to enjoy it. He seemed proud that he pleased her, and watched intently as she picked up her fork, "I bet you put poison in here or something…" Scully muttered as she scooped up a piece of the egg. He just smiled and watched. Finally the fork reached her lips and she chewed it thoroughly. He couldn't help but stare, she was so graceful, even in his plaid shirt- and even eating breakfast.

She swallowed the food eventually and he broke out of his trance to see what she thought, "Mmm…. Mulder this is great!"

Mulder's smile grew, "See no poison, just a little alcohol." Scully smiled too, and took another bite but realized he didn't have any thing but some toast. She set her fork down and looked at him.

"How come you didn't make any for yourself?" Scully wondered.

"Well I thought about what you said, about your mom. I'm sure that she wasn't able to make enough for herself. I bet all she had was a piece of toast and some jam and a glass of juice, but that's it." Mulder took a sip of his small glass of juice. Scully took in a deep breath, he was so good about understanding how people were and figuring out how situations had been. Scully got up and carried her plate over. She sat down next to him, instead of across from him, and picked up her fork once more.

"If there is one thing you always impress me by, it's your way of understanding people in a deeper level then I can. Therefore…" she stabbed the fork into some egg, "why don't you eat the rest of this." She lifted the fork near him and placed it gently in his mouth. He pressed his lips down around the fork tightly, and she pulled the fork out of this mouth again. She set the fork down and leaned in with a smile to watch him. After he chewed it and swallowed he smiled, "wow, I am a great cook!"

Scully let out a small laugh and shook her head, "you're so full of it!" She picked the fork back up and ate a few more bites. Mulder was thinking. No matter how much he wanted to enjoy the breakfast with Scully- Laura- no matter how much he wanted to enjoy the breakfast with_ Laura_, he couldn't stop thinking about the case. Finally a grand thought hit him.

"Scully! I got it!" He stood up quickly, startling her.

"Got what, Mulder?" He didn't respond to her though, after a few paces around the kitchen, her waiting in anticipation, he spoke again, "Take off your pants!"

"Excuse me?" Scully's eyebrows lifted right away.

"Just do it!" he told her. Scully's eyebrows continued to float in the air, "What?" Mulder took in a deep breath, "my shirt covers everything, I just want to do an experiment with the neighbors." Scully took in a deep breath herself, then slowly got up. She unbuttoned her jeans, then slid them off. Meanwhile Mulder unbuttoned his shirt.

She hadn't realized he had taken off his shirt, and looking up at him startled her. She stared for a moment then diverted her eyes to his eyes, "Well?"

Mulder smirked. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her out into the front yard. Scully was embarrassed but did what he asked of her.

"Go start gardening," Mulder suggested. Scully went over to the plants lining the front yard and squatted down, revealing much more then she wanted to to the neighbors. Mulder, on the other hand, started doing exercises, making sure to show his chest off as much as he could- he knew he'd get the neighbors attention.

Of course, like many times, he was right. After only a few minutes Wynn, their next door neighbor came over.

"What are you two doing!" He ran over wide-eyed. Scully stood up and Mulder wrapped his arm over her shoulders.

"What do you mean?" Rob asked with a smile. Wynn was obviously very worried, "you two have to put clothes on! You must have a shirt and pants on at all times, it's in the rules!"

"Oh I didn't know- did you know that, honeybunch?" Mulder asked Scully.

"Not at all poopie-head," Scully responded just like a wife would, except with a little annoyance in her voice.

"Well, please! Go back in your house, and get dressed before you come back out!" Wynn pleaded. Mulder started questioning him, "What would happen if we didn't?" Wynn went perfectly silent. Scully glanced over to see another neighbor, who seemed very suspicious of what was going on. Scully nudged Mulder by rubbing up closer to him. It surprised him at first, then he realized what she was trying to show him.

"We'll see you later, Wynn!" Rob smiled then him and Laura went back into their house.

"Something is definitely going on here, Mulder, but I doubt it's a monster. Why would working in the garden affect a 'monster'?"

** TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Scully's Words had been going through Mulder's head all day.

She had stayed home and they continued to look through the house for any evidence. As Mulder looked near the fan on a ladder, Scully video tapped him and other parts of the room. Finally, Mulder sat on the top of the ladder thinking, and Scully turned off the camera. She sat down in a chair in the room and looked up at Mulder, trying to see what he was thinking.

"You know, Scully, I think you were right about what you said." Scully frowned, "What did I say?"

Mulder climbed down the ladder, "I have another idea." He ran off leaving Scully in anticipation, "What did I say!"

Mulder hadn't come down stairs for awhile, so Scully shrugged off her curiosity, "I'm probably wrong anyway," she doubted whatever Mulder thought she was right about. She turned on the camera again and walked through the house, she made her way to the kitchen and noticed some neighbors outside. She focused the camera out the window and zoomed in. She tried to call Mulder, but he didn't hear her. The neighbors looked very suspicious and she watched them intently. The women looked nervous but the men even more so, she watched as the group headed into the house across the street from her home. It was the same neighbor who was watching them before.

"Mulder?... Mulder?..." Scully called throughout the house. As she walked up the stairs she heard a loud thump, "Mulder?" she called quietly. All she heard were footsteps running, and she pulled out her gun. As she slowly made her way up the rest of the steps she heard more, what sounded like loud walking. While walking up the last step she tripped and dropped her gun. Getting up quickly she grabbed an umbrella out of a tube case next to her. Holding it high she headed toward the bedroom, where she heard the footsteps. As she reached the room slowly she held the umbrella higher.

"Mulder?" She called sternly.

"yeah?" she heard him answer down the hall. She turned around quickly, then looked back into the room. She swore she had felt something run behind her. She quickly walked down the hall to Mulder, reaching him out of breath.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Scully grew wide-eyed and hid the umbrella behind her back, "Wrong? Nothing's wrong! Why would anything be wrong!"

Mulder looked away from her with a frown, Scully sat down on the bed a bit nervous still. Whatever it was that was in the room had frightened her.

"So what are you doing?" She asked after calming down a bit, and noticing he was actually doing something. He looked up at her with a smile, "Get into comfortable clothes." He walked off and out of the room with something under a blanket.

Scully shrugged and looked through her suitcase. She found a pair of comfortable jeans and a camisole. After slipping her tennis shoes on she walked down the stairs, quickly, and found Mulder in the kitchen.

"Oh! I was going to tell you! A group of neighbors went into the house across the street, where that other neighbor was watching us before" Mulder nodded, "Hopefully their still there. Come on," he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the front door. He finally let go of her and opened the door for her, "If you want to come out and help with another test?" he waited for her answer, and after a moments pause she smiled, "Well I'm not going to sit around the house all night while you have all the fun!"

She walked out onto the front porch, then turned to Mulder, "Where are we going?" Mulder smiled and took her wrist again, she wondered what that meant when he did that. Was he afraid to hold her hand? Or did he just not want to hold her hand? It didn't matter.

She let him pull her over to the center of the lawn, and she waited as he stood there. She then watched as he got on his knees and ran his hands across the lawn. Scully watched him, frowning, trying to figure out what he was doing. Finally when he reached a certain place he stopped. He pulled out a blanket from the bag he brought out, and spread it out. He lay down on part of it, and Scully lay down on the other part. The blanket was barely big enough, and they lay close together. Mulder put his arms up under his head, almost elbowing Scully. She smiled at him then looked up at the stars like he was.

"It's a nice night," Scully said after a few moments of silence.

"You don't see sky's like this in the city," Mulder agreed. It was quiet for awhile and Scully shut her eyes.

"Can I tell you something?" Mulder asked as he turned on his side and Scully turned her head to face him, opening her eyes. She hadn't realized he was so close, but this time it didn't make her as uncomfortable.

"Of course you can," Scully waited for him to continue. He took in a few deep breaths, then moved himself a little closer to her.

"I want you to know that I really appreciate you being here, with me. I don't mean just here in Arcadia Hills, but… that you've been at my side these years and you've trusted me over and over again even when I've been wrong…" Mulder paused, "that's a big deal to me, and I just don't always have the chance to tell you how much I… I really…" he began to lower his head. Scully took a quick gulp as his mouth came closer to hers. She let out one last shaky breath against his lips as he moved in that last inch. He had almost reached her when there were screams. Mulder and Scully sat up right away, always ready to help someone in need. The scream came from the home across the street, where the large group of people had gone.

"Come on!" Mulder got up and offered his hand. Scully had to get her shoes on, "you go, I'll be there in a sec!"


	4. Tea for Eleven

**Chapter 4 **

Mulder crept over to the home, and pulled out his gun. He walked around the house, on the side yard, until he reached the back yard. There was a strange hole in the middle of the backyard, where it looked as though the ground in that certain area just caved in. Mulder headed toward it cautiously when he heard people headed his way. He ran back to the side of the house, and watched as the head of Arcadia Hill's and three other men filled the hole back up.

Scully was on the other side of the house, in the side yard. She hadn't pulled her gun out yet, and was disappointed to find she couldn't get through the fence or even look through it, to see what was happening or where Mulder was. She was turning back to go find him, when she was startled. A group of five or six women stood behind her, Scully tried to come up with an excuse, but it wasn't needed. One of the women stood close to Scully, and whispered to her, as the other women stood guard, "You're the new neighbor, we've been keeping an eye on you… come to my house tomorrow for lunch, don't tell your husband about this. Got it?" Scully nodded.

"I live two blocks over, house number 1223, don't be late." The woman told her before all of them went back toward the house. Scully called to them quickly though, "wait! What's going on here? Why were there screams?" The woman who talked to her before walked back to Scully swiftly, "go home. We'll explain tomorrow," she walked off again.

Scully went to go find Mulder, and found him easily as he was leaving his side yard to go over to hers. "Find anything?" Mulder asked. Scully nodded, "come on."

After the two got back to their house, and after they'd collected the blanket from the front yard, Scully sat down on the living room couch. She slid off her shoes, and took the blanket that was on the back of the couch, wrapping it around herself. Mulder sat on the opposite chair, watching her as she got comfortable. Finally after calming down and getting situated Scully began, "a group of women approached me. They told me to go home and ignore the screams. They also invited me for lunch tomorrow, and told me not to tell you. They claim their going to 'explain some things'."

"Do you trust them?" Mulder asked. Scully shrugged, "I don't see why I couldn't… all of them seemed pretty frightened, but the woman I talked to seemed to know what was going on… that is what we want to find out about this place… what truly is going on."

"I still don't see the true x-file here, so be careful, but I doubt its something paranormal," Mulder gave his two-bits on the matter.

After a long while of silence, both of them thinking, Scully started getting uncomfortable. At the same time she wanted to be mad at Mulder for doing what it seemed he was going to do on the lawn earlier that night, she also was flattered and almost… relieved. This many confusing feelings made her upset, "Mulder I'm going to get some rest…" She stood up, then remembering the figure or whatever it was that had scared her before, "are you coming?" Mulder was surprised to hear her say that, but could see something else was on her mind, and she needed him around. He nodded and followed her upstairs.

"Goodnight, Mulder," Scully smiled as she turned on her side to face him. Mulder smiled back, "Night, Scully.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Mulder was up early again, but this time he stayed in bed. He read a book he found in the drawer next to the bed, and decided he'd read until Scully woke up. After a half hour he heard Scully start fidgeting and soon enough she starting stretching. She opened her eyes and let out a big yawn as Mulder watched her, smiling, "Your lazier then I thought you were." Scully smiled, "At least I read more interesting books." Mulder looked at the cover of the book and realized it was a 'how to' book on marriage.

As he looked up he found Scully was walking to the bathroom, so she didn't appreciate Mulder had been waiting for her, that didn't bother him. He simply got up and made his way to the bathroom too. The door was unlocked and he entered cautiously. Scully had hopped into the shower and with the hot water, the room started to steam. She began to hum some song or other, it seemed familiar to Mulder, but he didn't dwell. He headed to the sink and shaved his cheeks and chin. Scully still hummed, and even after Mulder had finished shaving she was still in the shower.

Mulder smirked as he headed for the toilet, "hey Scullyyyy…"

Scully jumped, "Mulder! What are you doing in here?" Mulder just continued what he was saying before, "hope you don't mind I used the bathroom," he flipped the knob and the toilet flushed. Mulder ran out of the room and grabbed his clothes, he headed downstairs quickly.

Scully jumped out of the shower, freezing cold. She threw on her clothes and with her hair dripping all over the place, she headed downstairs.

"Mulder? That was not funny… I was enjoying my shower and you had to play one of your silly jokes… I didn't find it funny at all…. Mulder!" Scully walked around the house. She reached the front door and saw Mulder outside talking with two men. She watched from inside, not able to hear much. Finally after a few minutes, Mulder came back toward the house. Scully dashed to the kitchen, grabbing a pot with her.

Mulder walked into the kitchen oblivious and sat down with his cup of coffee and his toast. The 'how to' book on marriage was actually pretty fascinating and Mulder picked it up to continue where he left off. Scully crept up behind him, and slowly she poured water from the pot over Mulder's head. After she was done she smiled, "enjoy your breakfast," and walked back upstairs.

Scully came back down after awhile, her hair no longer wet or matted. She sat down next to Mulder, who had changed and dried his hair.

"You look nice," Mulder smiled. Scully looked up at him from the paper, "you'll have to say more then that to make up for what you did…" Mulder looked back into the marriage book, "You know Scully, it says here that for a healthy marriage both the husband and wife should have sex at least twice a week…"

Scully looked at him with one of her eye brows cocked, "hopefully not with each other…" Mulder smiled, and went back to reading. After a few more minutes of silence, Scully set down the paper, "what we're you talking about with those two men, earlier?"

"Oh, they invited me to a meeting, its one of those ones to make sure that everyone is following the rules and all, nothing interesting. When are you going to lunch with the ladies?" Mulder asked.

"About twelve. I think I'm going to take a walk around Arcadia Hill's right now though." Mulder nodded, "I'll go with you." After a minute Scully responded, "I think I'll take this walk alone."

After cleaning up and finishing her breakfast Scully headed outdoors. She took in a deep breath as she stood on the porch then made her way down the cute street. The houses all looked the same, and each one had a white fence that surrounded the front yard.

Arcadia Hill's was Scully's dream, like many of the people that resided there. She wanted the cute little home, the good husband, the nice kids, even the sweet dog. But lately she had wanted different things, things she never thought she'd want. Instead of wanting to read a book and sit on her front porch, she'd rather be out discovering some top secret file that Mulder had found out about. Instead of wanting to walk her sweet dog, she wanted to be holding a gun up in a government facility, trying to take back what her own people took from her.

At first hearing about being undercover, as Mulder's wife, and staying at Arcadia Hill's for at least a couple months, didn't sound too good. She didn't want to be on these small cases, cases that didn't mean anything in the long run. But, as time went on, and as she found out more about Mulder, it didn't seem so bad. There was definitely something fishy going on in Arcadia Hill's, something that even though she didn't want to admit scared her, did. She had to keep the straight face, and she had to be strong, but when she felt herself starting to weaken, she knew Mulder would be at her side. That's what made Arcadia Hill's bearable.

Scully had walked almost all around Arcadia Hill's, it was bigger then she thought, and luckily she realized the time before she got too far away from the home she needed to get to. When she did get to home 1223 she was a half hour early, but there were already five women there. The woman who had talked to her before led her into the house nicely, and she sat down in the living room with the others.

Scully was a bit confused about the situation though. The woman had told her she was going to explain things, but so far all they were doing was talking and drinking tea, of all things. A few more women entered the house as she sat down, and soon the main woman came back in.

"Well isn't this lovely! I'm sure we're all going to have a good time this afternoon... I want to introduce you all to our new neighbor, Laura Petrie…"

"Petrie," Scully corrected her.

"Excuse me, Petrie… Let me introduce you to everyone, Laura. This is Carol, Margret, Jenny, Velma, Sue, Heather, Lady, June, Mary and I'm Chris… don't worry, take your time learning our names." Scully nodded at each of the women, gesturing a hello.

Carol started the questioning, "So, Laura, your married to a handsome man, what's his name?"

"Rob."

Carol continued, "How lovely. How long have you two been married?"

"We're newlyweds, it's only been a few months." Carol nodded, as Velma broke in, "You two make a very attractive couple. You must love and take care of him a lot?"

Scully was trying to figure out what these questions were for, and what answer they wanted. These women seemed like they had something else down their sleeves, so Scully answered in a way she thought they'd appreciate.

"Well, sometimes Rob and I fight, we don't have a perfect marriage. But we do what we can, and I'm here to protect him as much as I am to love and support him."

Scully watched as some of the women looked over at Chris, she nodded slightly, and the women started talking about other things. Scully listened for awhile, trying to keep up, but soon her mind drifted. She couldn't ask about what they wanted to tell her, so she waited and doing so she thought of what she said about her and Mulder. But it wasn't Mulder, it was Rob. She had to make sure to remember the difference. She wasn't married to Mulder, she wasn't even herself. She was Laura, and Laura loved Rob, and they were newlyweds. Period.

Finally after an hour, Chris's husband appeared at the stairs, "Well I'm going to the meeting now hunny, all you ladies behave yourselves!" he smiled as he kissed Chris on the cheek and left. As soon as the door closed all the women scurried around the room. They covered the windows with blinds, they closed all the doors to the room, made sure to unplug the phones, it was organized chaos and it startled Scully at first. Once all the women sat back down in their seats, Chris began explaining things.

"Laura, you seem like we can tell you this, and we want you to know now before you get caught up in this place… This place, it has a secret, it has a monster… This monster isn't a big six-foot green goblin, it's a man, one man in particular…"

"Gogolak," Scully stated.

"Right, the head of Arcadia Hill's… He's been what you could call, brainwashing for years… We don't know what his motives are, but for some reason he can suck in the men, and after that the husbands suck in their wives… its dark, its dirty and we don't know the purpose… if we knew why he's brainwashing the homeowners, we could try and stop him… but our husbands wont move away, and we can't let them stay here with a maniac like Gogolak by themselves… Over the years we've talked to many women, some have gotten their husbands out… and we figure since we can't get out ourselves, we have to help the new homeowners survive… Your husband was invited to the meeting. This is the beginning of the brainwashing. He'll come home with ideas that you never thought he'd have… you think your husband can fight this and that he's different then the other men, but we've all thought that…."

Scully frowned, she never thought it would be like what Chris was telling her, "How do I stop Mul—Rob from being brainwashed?"

"If you can't leave, and you must remain, you have to keep that connection with him… Once he's at a certain stage of the brainwashing, your connection to each other will dissipate… you'll lose sight of things and the only ones that can keep you from being brainwashed is us… There are different things that we've experimented with to keep our husbands who they are and not Gogolak's little mutants… most of it is keeping the attraction to each other… you can keep him in your palms if you enlighten him, you keep him wanting you, and not Gogolak… it's a long process for Gogolak to brainwash him, but it's more work keeping your husband himself. It's the decision you have to make. You can save yourself, and get away easily, but are you willing to let your husband stay and let his life be taken from right under his nose… if your not prepared to leave him, then are you ready for the struggle it will take to keep him who he is, and are you ready to face the fact that you may fail him?... you have to make the decision soon, if not tonight, by the next couple days. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to save him."

Scully took in a deep breath. There were several minutes of silence, "Rob is my husband, I married him because I love him… I'll go to the ends of the earth for him, let alone fight Gogolak."

**TBC**


End file.
